thousands of blacks migrate west for a better life and to escape racial discrimination. Even though in the west, blacks still struggled with hostility and inequality. Racist western whites and Natives Americans still treated blacks with the same hostility.

In the civil rights cases of 1883, one of the rulings by the supreme court said that the civil rights act of 1875 was unconstitutional. (The enforcement act: A US federal law that guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public places) The supreme court interpreted that 14th Amendment only prohibited states, not citizens from discrimination. This devastated and shocked many African Americans.

1890

Elimination of Black voting

Many laws were created by racists whites after the 15th amendment was put into place to try and eliminate African Americans voice and ability to vote. The poll tax made it hard for blacks to vote because it introduce a fee voters had to pay before voting. The fee was just enough so that most poor people (Mostly blacks at the time) could not vote. There were also poor whites that could not afford the poll tax either but it still mostly affected blacks. Literacy tests were put into place and only people who passed the literacy test were able to cast their ballot. The KKK would burn down black schools just to prevent them from increasing their education and their chance of voting. Another way to prevent blacks from voting was the grandfather clause, which stated that the only people able to vote were descendants of people that were able to vote before the civil rights movement. This obviously only included white slave owners.

Plessy ( a man of 1/8 black ethnicity) Purchased a first class train ticket and boarded the whites only section. He was asked to move even though he had rightfully purchased the ticket. The supreme court ruled that separate but equal was constitutional

Richmond County in Georgia only had a high school for whites. In this court case it was argued that this does not follow the guidelines/precedent of Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal). It definitely was not equal because there wasn't even a school provided for black students! Richmond County argued that they just didn't have enough money to maintain both black and white schools. The court ruled unanimously in favor of not forcing Richmond county to provide a school for blacks.

Published by Thomas Dixon Jr., The clansman is a novel that was written with the purpose to educate North of the "sufferings" the white man faced during the reconstruction period. Thomas Dixon says in his reason for publication :" My object is to teach the North, the young North, what it has never known- the awful suffering of the white man during the dreadful Reconstruction period. I believe the Almighty God anointed the white men of the south by their suffering during that time immediately after the civil war that the white man must and shall be supreme." This is significant because although scary, this was the mentality of a lot of whites for a long time. This mentality could infiltrate the minds of blacks too. Being told and treated like you are inferior can take a toll on your actual self worth. This was yet another way to try and keep African Americans from taking advantage of the rights America is supposed to provide.

1908

Marriage Restriction

In Wyoming, a law was passed that prohibited the marriage of "pure white bloods" from marrying African Americans or mulattos. This was put into place to make sure blacks and whites were truly separated. Whites did not want to be associated with other whites that were not racist/ even though of falling in love with an African American. A similar law was passed in Colorado, but if the law was broken, the punishment included excessive fines or jail time. South Carolina, Louisiana, and Nebraska also had these laws put into place.

1909

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded by many blacks and whites including W.E.B Dubois and Ida B. Wells. The purpose of this organization was to "Ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons ad to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."